The last lecture of the semester was on expanded narrative, focusing on the Wolf through narrative history. From totems, to little red ridding hood, to a film clip that I really wish could be unseen. But instead of going down the interesting but disturbing route of the wolf, I have decided to explore the history of the figure of Santa Claus since it is coming round to that time of year again. Santa Claus was originally the 4th century saint Nicholas from Turkey, who lived around the time of emperor Constantine. Who supposedly once slapped a bishop for saying that Jesus wasn’t holy enough.

I’m writing this as I watch Arthur Christmas, which is about Santa Claus in the 21st Century. I’m from the UK so my Santa Claus tradition is that Santa comes on Christmas eve ( the 24th of December) and delivers presents to good children and coal to the bad. We leave out either beer or whiskey, a mince pie and carrots for his reindeer. And Santa is dressed in a red and white suit and hats with black boots and belt.

A classic Glendinning Christmas tree.

A classic Glendinning Christmas tree.

However not only is the jolly old fellow not the same in every country but the gift giving figure is pre- Christian. Odin who did feature in the wolf lecture can be seen as a Santa figure. As he used to head the yuletide hunt on his eight legged horse Sleipnir. Odin gave gifts to those in need, much like St. Nicholas who is said to have helped those in need of money, such three sisters who didn’t have enough for a dowry and were about to be sold into prostitution. Odin gave bread and was the father god of the Norse gods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin

Odin was a big figure in Norse folklore but was transformed from his pagan roots as Christianity spread though Europe. Santa has ridden goats and given naughty children sticks. And he doesn’t always give presents for Christmas. In some European countries the main St. Nick gift giving happens on December 6th on St. Nicholas’s day. With gifts on Christmas day being more to do with Jesus. Christmas and Santa now are just a huge amalgamation of many different Christian and pagan traditions and figures. Each country has its own variations.

St. Nicholas also has this shared function of gift giver/ donor and justice/ authority figure, which can still be seen in one of the more modern Christmas traditions of the shopping centre Santa. I recently listened to a Radio 4 feature called the “The Santa Tapes”, the Santa’s talk about their experiences and one of the reoccurring things is the fact that children confide in Santa and tell him everything from the mundane to the harder family or social issues. Now I don’t think I have ever visited a shopping centre Santa, I may have once sat on Santa’s lap at a Christmas party when I was little but I don’t think I ever told Santa what I wanted for Christmas. Through it may have had something to do with my younger sibling’s dislike of people in costumes. The idea of a strange man coming into the house every Christmas eve didn’t help this matter. Saying after it was explained that Santa was a benevolent character all was well. However just as my younger sibling got into the Christmas spirit and began to believe in Santa. I figured out that for the most part it was my parents giving me presents and doing my stocking, I think I was maybe five or six. I still entertained and liked the idea of Santa but I had ruined it for myself in part. I wish I had believed for longer and when watching Christmas films I find myself wishing it even harder. Because of Miracle on 34th Street I really wish Richard Attenborough was Santa, it and films like Elf and The Polar Express leave me with the overwhelming feeling that good, truth and the spirit of Christmas will and is triumphant. That is the feeling that those films set out to create and I’m a sucker for them. But just once a year its nice to get nostalgic about the belief you once had and not be cynical about the Christmas spending and the like. My parents are Christian so I quite like the religious aspect but also the fact that on Christmas there is a genuine spirit of goodwill that people make time for. And Santa Claus reinforces that, if one man, nine reindeer, and some elves can deliver a present to every good child in the world then it should hardly be a pinch to be extra nice around the Christmas period. Obviously you should try to be nice all year round but if Scrooge taught us anything Christmas is a time for hope and reconciliation and  couple of weeks later you can make a new years resolution.

Though Santa has become rather lost in commercialism. I’m not a fan of the Coca Cola Christmas, it never changes, I do appreciate the thought put into the Marks and Spencer’s and John Lewis adverts. The Marks and Spencer’s ad Christmas clothes ad : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7Xw1IL3oh0 it references the wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Little Red Ridding who featured heavily in the Wolf lecture, Hansel and Gretel and Aladdin/ Arabian Nights. Fairy tales are in needless to say. And Santa Claus is one of the oldest folk characters if you take out the Christian element. Most story’s have a gift giving character who gives the hero a key item. This happened in the Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe where Santa gave our three (Edmund was off with the witch at this point) hero’s their weaponry, definitely not toys but it was what those good children needed.

It is rather sad that major mythological characters and fairy-tale motifs have been used and abused so much commercially but it does show their enduring influence and relatability that such things have on society. I think its how narrative evolves in the modern age even if some of its charm and originality is lost. This happens to most things. Its kind of inevitable. Yet,  I think some small part of people want to believe in something good and just that comes at the end of a hard year. So Merry Christmas and a Happy Hogmanay to you all in this coming season of goodwill.

References and Links to webpages that helped me write this post :

Wikipedia Santa Claus. Available at : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus

JENNER, G. A weird history and Christmas. Part two. Who on earth is Santa?!. Available at : http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/greg-jenner/santa-weird-history-of-xmas_b_2302854.html.

DEIN, A. The Santa Tapes. BBC radio 4. Available at : http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pbrt6

All the above links were accessed on the 25.11.2013

Lewis ,C.S. (1950) The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Harper Collins Children’s Books.

Dickens, C. (2008) A Christmas Carol. Puffins Classics.

Note : I’m sorry if anyone has had problems with my blog loading or loading incorrectly. I’ve viewed my blog on a mac and a pc and the only issues I came across were the occasional image being squashed and some text escaping from photo text boxes. But everything was still readable. Fingers crossed 🙂